


that question

by trappedbyvellichor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Exams, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gay Messes, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Oneshot, Sirius Black Being an Idiot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, these kids are such messes, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23265400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trappedbyvellichor/pseuds/trappedbyvellichor
Summary: "-I'm never going to drop this, Moony. But how could you get it wrong? You ARE a were-"Remus gets the 'define a werewolf' question wrong in an exam. Sirius, being a complete idiot, starts demanding and questioning it loudly in the halls. But it reaches a point that Remus shuts him up in a way that surprised both of them.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 13
Kudos: 210





	that question

**Author's Note:**

> So i saw this prompt screenshot on pinterest, and i'm not sure who wrote it, so i couldn't credit them.  
> Heh, hope you enjoy!

_Tick tock_ _._

_Tick tock._

The large grandfather clock was growing louder and louder. Remus couldn't concentrate, and resorted to tapping his quill against the vandalised table. His eyes travelled the classroom, but advertently looked back at the parchment in front of him after catching Sirius's gleaming ones.

But his mind was blank.

This never happened during exams.

Remus didn't even know why this question made his heart speed up. He knew it'd come up. Staring at it didn't seem to make it disappear. He hadn't studied for it, not that he'd need books to know the answer to _this_ question in particular. He just couldn't answer it.

It was stupid really. The parchment in front of Remus stared back at him, as the boy puzzled over what to write. He chewed on the inside of his mouth, and closed his eyes trying to remember what he'd studied the night before. Trying to catch the memory 

But of course, he skipped studying this part. He already knew all of it by heart. Why wasn't it coming back to him now?

Remus looked back at the black letters.

_Define the following Dark Creature: Werewolf_

He could've defined any of the other magical creatures, but no, it had to be this one. This specific creature. This wasn't even a coincidence; it couldn't be. Someone had purposely set this paper to Remus. That had to be the only explanation. 

Remus stifled a yawn, dragging his fingers through his messy curls. He faced the clock, and his eyes opened wide as he realised how much time he'd wasted on that question. Scrambling with his quill, he scribbled down the next questions, pausing only to hastily dip the quill into the ink pot and brush the strands of hair falling into his eyes.

The time passed, and he went through the paper quicker than he thought he would. The questions were remarkably easy, and Remus found time at the end to drift off into fantasies he'd never share with anyone.

The clock chimed loudly, echoing through the room. Remus was tilting on his chair, his eyelids begging to drop and still yawning from the four hours of sleep he'd got last night. But with a start, it hit him. He missed the werewolf question.

He missed the huge question.

As the teacher collected the papers next to him, he hastily turned the pages, finding the page and scrawling down something from the top of his head, not caring if it was absolute shite. He managed to fold all the papers just in time for the teacher walking up from behind him.

Tipping back into the chair, he let out a long sigh. 

The bell rang, and a flurry of students were getting up and chattering loudly all around him. Remus could've sworn that a girl in front of him winked at him before practically jumping onto one of her friends. As Remus ungracefully picked up his books and loose papers, he heard a familiar, snarky voice behind him.

"How'd you like the eighth question, Moons?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I got it wrong," stated Remus, before turning around to see gleaming eyes and a wide grin. Sirius's grin dropped, and was replaced by an open mouth of exaggerated shock.

"You really think you got it wrong? Shut up, you probably got full anyways with the amount of studying you did last night."

"No, really. I didn't study the werewolf chapter," he said, muttering more to himself. "Thought I knew it all."

"Sure Moony, I believe you."

"I'm not ly-"

"Hey guys," shouted James, ruffling up Sirius's hair, earning him a shove and a pout. "Moony, how'd you find question eight, huh?"

"Apparently he got it _wrong_ ," said Sirius in a mocking tone.

"Oh really? Moony? Get a question wrong? About werewolves? I'd be snogging Snivellus before that happens."

"Aw, really? I better give you two flowers for your anniversary this month, hadn't I?"

"Shut up, Pads. Besides, you're just jealous. Snivellus would love me way before _you,_ " insisted James.

"Would not. Snivellus wouldn't be able to help falling for my charms. We'd be braiding each others' hair. I bet he'd love to put _lilies_ in his braids."

"Oh no," groaned James pulling a face of disgust. "The image is stuck in my head now, you absolute prick."

"I don't think Snivellus would be shagging me anytime soon," replied Remus from behind all of them, earning a scowl from both of them. And behind his chuckles, he heard James mutter something that sounded distinctly like "'course Moony, someone else'll be shagging you."

"I heard that, Prongs," retorted Remus. "And who exactly would that be, may I ask?"

He staggered, almost falling to the floor when James fell on him. Cursing at James, he saw that hint of fluster in Sirius's eyes, and his heart skipped a beat.

"And this is why McGonagall'll never go out with you two."

"You mean the love of my life? Y'know, she may be McGonagall to you, but she'll always be my Minnie."

"I assure you, Mr. Black, professor McGonagall is the only title I expect to hear from you," said a sharp, Scottish-accented voice from behind them.

Sirius froze in his place and started blushing furiously, as James and Remus tried to stifle their laughter while backing away. McGonagall seemed frustrated rather than furious, but Remus could see the corner of her mouth twitch as she scolded an innocent looking Sirius.

Sirius caught up to the two of them, smacking both of their heads as they laughed openly in his face. "Can't you see Minnie denying her feelings for me?"

"The only thing she's denying is the amount of detentions she'll have to sit through 'cause of you."

"Oh Merlin," exclaimed James, eyes wide open. "I said I'd catch up with Peter in the great hall right now, to help him study for herbology. O-okay bye!"

"And I wanted to get a little studying in before the Astronomy test," said Remus.

"Both of you, leaving me," began Sirius in an overly dramatic voice. He reached for his heart, and put on his ever-so-famous puppy eyes that nobody, except for Remus or McGonagall could resist. "Where will I go, without my two-"

"Go to Snivellus. Maybe he'll braid your hair for you," replied Remus in a flat voice, and dragged James away.

* * *

Lunch came and went in a flurry of laughing, daydreaming, and reading. Remus thanked the stars for the last; it was impossible to get any reading in, what with Sirius needing to be around him every waking second.

Not that he was complaining. He'd found that Sirius's company had suddenly grown on him more now, at least for the past year. He had a good idea as to why, but didn't want to venture where he'd only get hurt. He just took it as it was.

So there Remus sat, the grass prickling his legs as he flipped through the pages, when a familiar face was running up to him. Taking a few panting moments, Peter rambled on about how late Remus was going to be if he continued reading, and that Sirius and James were _begging_ for his presence.

"It's okay Wormy, don't wait for me. I just need to finish this one last page..."

And he mentally debated for a while, whether he should skip or not, before remembering that their teacher hinted that they might get their papers back. Skimming through the last words, he felt a hint of deflation. The plot was just picking up.

Their defense against the dark arts teacher was generally really fast when correcting papers for some reason. James thought he was possessed. Sirius thought he was secretly a dark wizard. Remus just thought he was good at time management.

But as it was, he always managed to correct their papers quickly, which was why he was liked by the others.

And in he walked in, with those signature black robes, exquisitely embroidered with purple silk. Surely enough, he had a roll of tied parchments in his hand, and Remus saw the entire class sit up straight at the sight of it.

"As you can probably tell, I have your papers already," said the teacher tiredly. "Come up and collect them from me when I call out your names, and _please_ be quiet."

Remus sighed and hung his head as he remembered how he rushed the werewolf question, and accepted that he wouldn't get full in this test. Not that his marks mattered, but why did he miss _that_ out of all questions wrong?!

"Remus Lupin," called out the teacher, and handed the roll of parchment to Remus.

And he got just what he expected. Forty-seven our of fifty. Lost three damn marks because of a question about himself. This was just ridiculous. Remus flipped the pages to see what he'd written in haste, and groaned when he read the words.

_A werewolf is a creature that is forced to transform into a ~~n~~ ~~anthropomorphic~~ dark creature every full moon night. ~~They aren't able to~~ They have no choice, and the transformation is dictated by their attacker's own features. ~~and uhhh.~~_

Remus let a hand slide down his face as he looked up at the ceiling. He felt a warm hand fall on his shoulder, and turned around, only for butterflies to rage in his stomach. Sirius dragged a chair next to his, and fell into it.

Sirius snatched the paper out of Remus's hand, and rested his head on Remus's shoulder while reading his answers. Remus could feel him silently shaking in laughter, and saw the twitching grin as he got up. Remus sank further back into his chair, and steadily avoided Sirius's eye contact.

"You really didn't study, did you Moony?"

"In my defense, it was the _only_ thing I didn't study!"

"Merlin, you really are stupid-"

"I didn't need to study _that_ chapter, I really don't know what happened during the exam," Remus retorted, getting quieter.

"-Couldn't even answer a question about yourself!"

Sirius was full on chortling at this point, as Remus hung his head in embarrassment and let out a "shut up."

"C'mon Moony, how'd you get _this_ question wrong?"

"I don't know Pads, I really don't. I swear, Prongs's spirit must've possessed me during that question or something."

"Embarrassment to your kind," declared Sirius, but noticing Remus suddenly look down and bite his lip, he apologised quickly.

"Nah, it's okay. Merlin, even I keep kicking myself over for getting this wrong."

"But really Moons, how'd you get it wrongwhen you _are_ a-"

But Remus rose from his seat and slammed his hand over Sirius's mouth before he could finish the sentence, almost closing the distance between them. His eyes widened in shock and he stepped back. Remus caught that Sirius's flustered face as he looked away, threading fingers through his hair.

"Tosser," mumbled Remus. A small smirk twitched its way onto Sirius's face. It was, unfortunately for him, noticed by Remus who lightly punched him in the shoulder, receiving a full on tackle from Sirius, in the style of those Muggles playing sports.

* * *

Sirius would not stop bugging Remus about it, chasing him all throughout the corridors when class ended. It took all Remus had in him to not burst, either out of anger, or something else, something tugging at his heart.

But it reached a peaking point when Remus was walking in a large, empty corridor save for a few portraits that were either sleeping, or getting wasted away on oak matured mead. He wanted to retreat into the library for a few hours, so maybe he'd get his thoughts straight for once.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost screamed when he was approached by eyes sparkling with mischief, and a wide grin. His eyes closed as his heartbeat slowed again, though it remained tense at the touch of Sirius's hand against his arm.

"You know what i'm going to ask you, don't you?" His tone was full of snark.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes I do, and I'm not going to answer it," he deadpanned.

"Really though, how could you not get it right?"

"I don't know!"

"Did you _purposely_ get it wrong? The answer really was hilarious, worse than Wormy's honestly-"

"Yes, that's right, I purposely tried to lower my grades, Sirius. Now can you leave?" Remus was wearing an expression of fond exasperation.

"But the system must be wrong! It can't be possible-"

"Our _friendship_ isn't possible."

"You and I have a bond deeper than the roots of an elder tree! But that's beside the topic-"

"The extremely over-discussed topic-"

"How dare they even mark it wrong? It's unbel-"

"I've seen many more _unbelievable_ things, Pads, trust me."

"It's an important matter, Moony-"

"Is it truly? Because I beg to differ. Slughorn's essay, on the other hand-"

"Slughorn can suck my-"

"I doubt he'd really enjoy such an experience," said Remus, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He wiped the smirk off of Sirius's now determined face.

Sirius was thoroughly exasperated now. He didn't particularly know why, but something about this was driving him up the wall. Maybe it was Remus's attitude, or the annoying urge to pull him close, slam him against the wall and-

_Wait._

_Oh._

_Oh no._

That was why... that... that explained a lot, at least. Something loosely tugged at Sirius's heart, as he snapped back to reality with Remus's warm words. His voice truly was calming, especially that one time he read those children stories- Beedle or something- to Sirius.

"Glorious silence, at last," he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Sirius?"

It took a few seconds of just staring at Remus, before properly coming back to the moment. "M'kay, spaced out for a moment, your features- uh- truly encaptured- uh-"

"Have I really rendered the Great Sirius Orion Black speechless?"

"Shut up," he snapped, steadily avoiding eye contact with Remus. This was... the first time he'd ever stumbled on his words, at least since that time Regulus cornered him.

"You were saying, about my _encapturing_ features?"

"We will not speak of this ever. Prongs shall never know," said Sirius, with a finger to Remus's lips, which Remus quickly slapped away.

"Believe me, Prongs'll find out."

But it came out strangled. Like he was holding something back, something important, powerful even. Sirius didn't even know where this was coming from, but he could see the way Remus's smile didn't reach his eyes. And he wanted to change that. Somehow. 

"Back to the topic-"

Remus sighed loudly as Sirius raised his voice.

"-I'm never going to drop this, Moony. But how could _you_ get it wrong? You _are_ a were-" 

But the sound of hurried footsteps sent chills down Remus's spine and adrenaline through his veins. Everything trapped inside him was threatening to burst in fear. Everything was so completely out of his control.

So before he knew it, Sirius was slammed against the wall, and in a quick movement, the space between them was closed. Remus's lips tasted warm, like hot chocolate, but made Sirius wildly dizzy in a good way. Everything was happening at once, he couldn't process it all.

The moment was broken almost as soon as it started, and Sirius felt the warm leave him. For a split second, he could see the cold horror in Remus's eyes, felt the shuddering breath against his face, and saw, maybe even felt, the small shake of his head, denying the moment.

But Sirius didn't want it to end. He pulled Remus in, and kissed him deeply. The raging butterflies were almost replaced by a pool of warmth, content and bubbling joy. Remus slowly grew confident, and Sirius melted into it, letting his hands travel into Remus's hair and back.

"Merlin's sweaty- goddamnit Black, I thought you were into Marlene!"

Remus hastily pulled away and stepped back, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, as Sirius snapped his neck around and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Both their stomachs sank at the sight of a disappointed looking Alice and an elated Lily.

Alice's bottom lip jutted out, and she crossed her arms and as her disappointed gaze darted between the two boys. When she finally spoke again, her voice was filled with fond exasperation.

"Honestly?"

"Told you so," chirped Lily with a smug look on her face, putting her hands on her hip, chin pushed up. She lifted her other palm, with a triumphant look on her face as Alice slapped five galleons into her hands.

For Sirius, the quick fear quickly turned into confusion, because, _Marlene? Honestly?_ Sirius turned his head in Remus's direction, sending a scowl to the grinning boy who was clearly trying to bite back a laugh.

Sirius let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and hung his head back as everything rushed back at him. And he laughed. He ran his fingers through his hair again, and let laughs, vaguely similar to sobs, rack his body, still lip with fear. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins.

Remus leaned back on the opposite wall, letting a small chuckle escape him as Alice let a small smirk form on her lips, and exchanged a knowing look with Lily, who had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

And a heavy thankful feeling washed over both of Remus, as he looked and thanked whatever above for.. just... _this_. The only setback was probably having to explain to James. Sirius would do that, so it'd be amusing, at least.

But apparently not.

"I'm _so_ going to be the one to tell Potter and Pettigrew!" Lily's bright red hair seemed flaming now, and the glint in her eyes seemed more prominent, especially with the smirk on her face. And she ran off, robes and hair flying in the air.

"See ya', boys," said Alice, and with a quick salute, she after Lily, laughter echoing through the halls.

"You know," Remus started almost shyly. He met Sirius's eyes before continuing. "Maybe this is more important than Slughorn's essay."

Sirius relied with a smirk, and more than Remus could ever ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> i apologise for forgetting about Peter's existence.


End file.
